...and in addition to that, VZ is publicly trying to woo foreign investment (the latest being for the development of a large oil field) in the face of declining oil production "post nationalization". Maybe it is beginning to dawn on them that it is easy to "take" a refinery or other resource that has already been developed and put into production than to build one from scratch. They are having problems even maintaining the refineries that have been nationalized. I would think that this philosophy would extend to the development of the mining industry. Who's going to build their mine?